Lists
by finlee
Summary: Kirsten's coming home and the house has to be put in order. An OC Season 3 Advent story.


**LISTS**

Summary: Kirsten is finally coming home and the house needs to be put in order.

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just borrowing them.

Ryan loved lists. If done correctly, they were orderly, precise and laid out exactly what needed to be done. And with a quick stroke of a pen, pencil or whatever writing implement was available, he could cross out each task that had been completed or in the case of a grocery list each item found. But no matter how much he loved lists, he did try to keep them hidden.

In Chino, he stopped writing them because they just reminded him of what he could never accomplish, what couldn't be purchased at the grocery store and homework he wasn't motivated to complete. He started in with the lists again when he moved in with the Cohens. First he kept track of what they purchased for him and then he listed what he could do to help pay them back, like making breakfast or dinner. Lists became even more important when he enrolled at Harbor. It was the only way he could easily see what work had to be done. It also allowed him to organize himself in such a way that all of his assignments were completed on time.

Seth got a hold of one of his school lists and proceeded to tease him about it for what seemed like months. Of course that didn't stop Seth from constantly borrowing Ryan's homework list to see what work he needed to do. It did drive Ryan a little crazy because Seth would doodle and make little comments on the pages, which messed up the list's appearance. Ryan liked it neat, organized and with a single line through the completed work. He preferred not to see the snarky comments, the so called witty jokes and the big breasted figures that decorated the pages of his homework pad.

But the list that was in front of him may just lead him to his doom. He started it just a few days earlier, organizing what needed to be done by Saturday morning. It just got longer and longer which did not really bother him because he was going to force Seth to help him complete it. After all, Kirsten was finally coming home and the house had to be perfect. Seth understood that and Ryan was confident that Seth would not give him too much grief.

Rosa, unfortunately, wouldn't be of any help. She was on a last minute honeymoon after eloping on Tuesday with the owner of the gardening company that took care of the Cohen's lawn. When Sandy found out about the impromptu marriage, he insisted that Rosa take two weeks off, completely forgetting that Kirsten was going to be returning that weekend.

In just two days of being on their own without anyone to pick up for them, the house was a wreak, even though Ryan tried to keep things in order. Sandy insisted he'd help with the cleaning, but a last minute emergency with one of his cases forced him to go to Los Angeles on Thursday and he wouldn't return until he picked up Kirsten on Saturday. Before he left that afternoon, Sandy pulled Ryan aside telling him to make sure Seth did his share. Ryan smirked knowing that there would be whining involved but that he had no intention of doing everything.

The first hint that the fates were working against him was when Seth jumped up from their pizza dinner, knocking over his soda which splattered all over the table, leaving a stain on the recently completed "to-do" list. God, Ryan hated a messy list and now he had to re-write it. Sure he could have written the list on his computer like Seth suggested, but there was just something about blue ink on white paper. And he loved to cross out the completed tasks with black ink. Sure he could have used something bolder like red or green, but he liked the simplicity of blue and black on white. Fine, he was a bit particular, but it made Ryan happy.

Pushing back from the table, Ryan went in search of Seth, a bit pissed about the mess he created. As he approached the bathroom door he heard the toilet flush and a moment later the door opened. A rather pale Seth emerged, the dark shadows under his eyes standing out from his face.

"Ryan I'm sick," he whined, "You have to take care of me."

"Me? Why me?"

"Cause Mom isn't back until Saturday. Dad's gone too and Summer's in NY." Seth dramatically crawled up the stairs heading towards his bedroom.

"Seth, you can't be sick! You have to help me. I have a list!"

Seth was about to respond but instead, slammed a hand over his mouth and staggered back towards the bathroom. Ryan's felt his stomach lurch in sympathy, thankful it was not him with his head in the toilet.

"Fine" Ryan sighed resigned to his fate, "Go to bed, I'll bring you some 7UP."

"No bubbles" Seth mumbled.

"What?"

"No bubbles," Seth emerged from the bathroom. "Mom always takes out the bubbles. She uses one of those long teaspoons. Make sure to bring me the spoon when you're done. The one with the flowers on the end. And saltines too."

"Great, now there's no time to re-write the list," Ryan grumbled as he headed back towards the kitchen.

**Friday**

Ryan walked up the stairs carry a breakfast tray for Seth. It had been a long night. Ryan had managed to wash the dishes, wax the kitchen floor, do two loads of laundry and clean out the refrigerator. Ryan was rather surprised he had done that much since he was continually running up and down the stairs, doing what ever he could to help Seth. Ryan relaxed a bit while he was vacuuming, knowing that the noise would drown out Seth's whimpering for a little while.

But then Ryan felt his cell phone vibrating. It was Seth of course. And the calls did not stop: "I'm too hot" "I'm too cold" "I can't reach the tissue box" "What's my temperature?" "I don't want bathroom water, I want kitchen water." Ryan turned off his phone when Seth called to ask him how long a thermometer would have to be to in order to take Captain Oates temperature if he were full sized.

As Ryan entered the bedroom, he saw Seth lying in bed with Captain Oates clutched to his chest. With a groan, he sat up and looked at Ryan. "My mom always puts a pillow behind my back when I sit up to eat." Rolling his eyes, Ryan picked a pillow up from the floor and crammed it behind his back

"Owww…be careful. I'm sick." To emphasize the point, Seth coughed and sniffed loudly while reaching for a tissue. "What's that?"

"Your breakfast." He placed the tray in front of Seth.

"No, what's that" with one finger he poked at what was in the bowl.

"It's jell-o, Seth, lime jell-o. You like jell-o or are you suddenly delirious, too? It'll go easy on your stomach." Ryan was not in the mood for this.

"Are you sure? I mean, jell-o comes in plastic container with a pull off silver top. This is a bowl of green lumps."

"Seth, that is jell-o. I bought some when I was picking up the saltines last night. I made it when you were sleeping."

"You know how to make Jell-o?" Ryan would have smacked Seth in the head if he didn't see that look of awe on his face. "And you made it for me? Can you teach me how? Is it hard?"

Ryan almost told him it was the easiest thing to do, but thought better of it. "If you leave me alone to finish my list, I'll show you how to make jell-o."

"Promise?" Seth smiled as he dug into the bowl.

"Yes, Seth, I promise." It really didn't take much to impress Seth, that's for sure.

**Friday Afternoon**

Ryan tossed the can of sliced peaches into the shopping cart. Sure the Cohen's always had fresh fruit available in the house (although what the hell the bowl of lemons and limes were for, he didn't know), but Ryan always liked canned fruit. Not the fruit in the jars, it had to be canned. It reminded him of when he was a little boy when things were good.

His Mom would sometimes give them canned fruit as a special treat with breakfast or for dessert with cool whip. The peaches always glistened with the sugary juice and there was that ever present tin can taste. But after his father was arrested, canned fruit became a luxury they rarely could afford. Every now and then, Ryan liked to buy himself a can or two for himself, which he stored in the small kitchen in the pool house.

Picking up the circular, Ryan once again flipped through the pages making mental notes of the items on his list that were on sale. The store brand cream cheese was on sale, but he knew that would never be acceptable. To Sandy, bagels were an art form even when it came to the brand of cream cheese he would use. It either had to be Philadelphia brand or the cream cheese that the bagel shop sold by the half pound containers. Well, that was $2.50 in savings that was going to be lost.

Just as he was about to toss the circular back in the cart, Ryan glanced at the back page. Shit! Ryan wanted to hit himself in the head. He forgot the tomatoes. Kirsten loved sliced tomatoes on her burgers and since that's what they were having for lunch tomorrow, he had to go back to the produce aisle. He hated this area of the store. People were always wandering around, squeezing the fruits and vegetables. Didn't they know that left bruises? Leaving his cart in an out of the way spot, Ryan made his way towards the vegetable displays.

Suddenly, he felt a tremendous pain shoot through his body, starting in his groin and radiating out in every direction. His vision dimmed and stars appeared. He thought he may have staggered and it was kind of hard to concentrate. After what seemed like years, things came back into focus and he tasted a bit of blood from where he bit his lip. What surprised him the most was that he was slightly hunched over with both hands covering his crotch. But what was worse, everybody was staring at him including a wide eyed little boy.

"Preston!" A shrill voice broke through the ringing in his ears. "I told you not to run with the cart, you hit that poor man in the di…. in his danglies!"

Shit, it all came back to him. Little Preston, future Newport Beach water polo player, rammed the edge of the cart at full force right into the boys.

Ryan wished he could run from the building in embarrassment, but as he was still clutching his most precious possessions there was little chance he could get his legs to do anything other than take shuffling baby steps.

"Mommy, if he hurt his danglies, shouldn't he put something cold on it. We can get him some ice cream!"

Ryan heard someone snickering. That was so not funny, but actually ice cream might help – the contrast of the coolness of the ice cream on heat of his throbbing…danglies, might be nice. Very appealing really.

"No Preston, I told you, no ice cream until we go home. Now hurry up and apologize to the nice man so I'm not late for my nail appointment."

He had to get out of here. As gracefully as he could, Ryan made his way to his cart, leaning on it to help him walk as normally as possible. Screw the tomatoes; he'll steal some from the neighbor's garden if he had to. Ryan got a sympathetic look one of the guys who was putting out some oranges, but it was the smiles from some of the women that made him turn a deep red.

Ten minutes later, Ryan was at the check out with a full cart. This was the fastest he had ever gone through the grocery store. He wanted out. Ryan was not going to compare prices this time or check what was on sale and see if he had any coupons. He wanted to go home and check for damage. He felt his knees go weak when he saw Preston pushing a cart near him. He moved his hand slightly so it would act as a cushion in case the little demon took aim at his privates again.

**Friday, evening**

Ryan was exhausted. He escaped from the store without any further damage. After unloading the car, he made a quick stop in the bathroom to make sure everything was in order. Relieved that there was no permanent damage, he continued on with his list – wash the windows, polish the table, dust, order fresh flowers, make sure Sandy and Kirsten's room was in order, wash the car, straighten the garage, clean the outdoor furniture. The list went on and on.

Seth was true to his word and didn't bother Ryan much. In fact, Ryan thought Seth was feeling much better by the early evening because he caught him eating some cold pizza. It must have been a 24 hour bug. Although his appetite was coming back, Seth still looked a little worn out.

But when Ryan came into the living room and saw that Seth had spread out his comics and was eating from a bowl of popcorn, he put his foot down. If Seth was still not feeling well enough to help then he just had to stay in his room. All Ryan's hard work was not going to be ruined by a semi-sick Seth making a mess.

By one in the morning, Ryan was done. The house was not just spotless, it was perfect. Everything was in its place and shined brightly. Kirsten would come home to a neat orderly house. He just had one short list for Saturday morning and that was to make sure lunch was in order before Kirsten came home. He checked the refrigerator to make sure he all the necessary items for the burgers and the pasta and green salads. Tomatoes! He couldn't forget them.

Grabbing the last of the full trash bags, he headed outside. Southern California was in the midst of a drought. They could really use some rain. To make sure the grass wasn't too brown and dry, Ryan had secretly been watering the lawn for just a few minutes each night. It did help, but his guilty conscious made him worry what the consequences would be if he was caught watering the lawn at 1 in the morning.

Looking to the left and right, Ryan dropped the hose and tried to be as stealth as possible. He squeezed between the hedges into the neighbor's yard and headed towards the small vegetable garden. How the hell was the neighbor's yard so green if he never saw them water their lawn? He reached out and just as his hand touched a nice sized tomato, Ryan heard a deep growling sound. Shit, he forgot the fucking dog!

Sure the dog was locked up, but for whatever reason, the mutt hated him. It could be a Newport/Chino thing, but he wasn't going to stick around to find out if the beast had mellowed since their last run in. He grabbed the tomato, praying it was ripe enough and dashed back through the shrubs, slipping on the wet grass and landing rather hard on his ass.

Hobbling back into the house, Ryan muttered every possible curse word he could think of. That fucking tomato better be worth it. It had cost him too much pain already.

**Saturday 12:33**

Everything seemed great. Seth was better and he even helped set up lunch. He claimed the grill since burgers were his specialty. Ryan had even marinated some chicken to be grilled for the meal.

Kirsten and Sandy returned to the house right on time and the family's reunion was wonderful. He had visited her in rehab, but it always seemed a little forced to him. But now Ryan reveled in the hug and kisses that Kirsten gave him and felt his eyes water when she told him how much she missed him and loved him.

Both Sandy and Kirsten were stunned at how the house looked. Seth took some of the credit, which didn't bother Ryan at all, because in the end, seeing Kirsten happy and knowing the family was still intact was all he needed. As they sat down to lunch, Sandy and Seth were a little taken aback when Ryan snatched the tomato slices from their plate.

"They're Kirsten's. I only got one tomato and it's only hers. You can't have any." Ryan turned a little red when he realized it came out as a childish whine. Seth and Sandy gave him a strange look but Kirsten smiled, ruffled his hair and gave him a kiss on his cheek in thanks. For all the damage Ryan suffered, it was worth it because it was a perfectly ripe tomato.

After a few bites of his cheeseburger, Ryan lost his appetite as he saw some grease drip from it. The headache he had since the morning was growing steadily. Ryan thought it was from lack of sleep but then he had some hot and cold flashes. Making sure no one noticed, he slipped one hand into his lap and gave the boys a little squeeze. They looked okay last time he checked but god forbid something ruptured in the mean time. Nope, all was in working order – no pain, just a little soreness.

He felt his dick stir, maybe a little too eagerly, so he made a mental note to take care of that as soon as possible. He had picked up a little reading material at the drug store during one of his errand runs. That magazine just might add a little something extra to the alone time he was planning.

"Ryan, are you okay?" Kirsten looked at him a little concerned.

Moving his hand out of his lap a little too quickly, Ryan looked, guilt written on his face. "Oh I'm fine…"

"Okay….so what are you planning for the weekend?"

Ryan could answer that, "Nothing much, relax a bit. Do some reading." Seth then piped in determined to let everyone know how sick he had been. Ryan let his mind drift while Seth babbled on. His head shot up when he heard his name.

"…and Ryan made me jell-o! Lime jell-o! He knows how to make it and he's going to teach me how."

Kirsten looked at him incredulously. "Seth, all you have to do is boil water and add the powder. It's easy. Even I can do."

"What! I thought…Ryan why didn't you tell me?"

Ryan was about to say something when he felt his stomach rumble and lurch. He broke out in a sweat. Jumping from his seat, he clamped his hand over his mouth and ran for the pool house. He made it just in time, emptying his stomach in the toilet. It seemed Seth's 24 hour virus was now visiting Ryan.

Forty-five minutes later and one more dash to the bathroom, Ryan was bundled into bed. That was when Ryan knew for sure what an awesome mom Kirsten was. She took the bubbles out of his soda, fluffed his pillows, brushed back his hair back when she took his temperature and made sure he had quiet while he rested. She even promised to make him some black cherry jell-o. Ryan really liked it when he woke up and saw her reading a magazine while watching over him. Her hovering wasn't that bad. But then….holy shit! Ryan sat up suddenly. Ooops. She was reading "that" magazine. He forgot to hide it with the rest his stash.

Kirsten looked up and smiled, "You know Ryan, these articles really aren't that bad."

**Sunday, late afternoon**

The next day, when he was feeling better, Ryan started a new list on a special notebook he had been saving. This time it wasn't a to do list or a homework list. Instead, he wrote down all the nice things that the Cohen's did for him. Number one, was taking care of him when he was sick.


End file.
